00:00Let's get more analysis now with Julia Roknifad, a senior lecturer at the School of Law and Governance at Taylor's
00:07University in Malaysia.
00:08Julia, thank you so much for joining us.
00:10Let's start then, if we could, with the dramatic events around the shooting down of those U.S. jets in
00:15Iran and the subsequent daring and successful rescue operation.
00:19President Trump, of course, came to present it as a huge victory.
00:22But could it also be seen as something of a PR success for the Iranians as well, in terms of
00:27their military capabilities?
00:28You know, that this rescue is even necessary.
00:32Absolutely, it can be seen as a PR victory for Iran, and not only PR, but a victory in the
00:38real sense, in the hard sense of the word.
00:41Of course, Iran could have declared even more of a PR victory if it were able to capture the remaining
00:50crew member, the weapons systems operator that was searched for for two or, what, three days.
00:57However, that doesn't deny Iran the capability to down the American planes.
01:04And that is just the beginning, what we are looking at.
01:08There are more to come.
01:09There have been a few aircraft left or lost already by the United States in the course of this war.
01:15And there will be more.
01:19And Iran also has proved that its air defenses have not been destroyed, as President Trump claimed.
01:29So it's so far looking very well for Iran, despite it not being able to capture the remaining crew member.
01:37Donald Trump today saying that a deal, though, with Iran could be possible by Monday, and yesterday, of course, giving
01:44Iran a 48-hour ultimatum to open the Strait of Hormuz.
01:47Is it likely to be heeded by Iran?
01:50And ultimately, do both sides want to find a way to reach a deal now to stop the war?
01:55No, of course not.
01:56With all the developments that we have seen, these 48 hours or 24, less than 24 hours now, say absolutely
02:04nothing.
02:05Because Iran has proven that it's able and willing to continue with the military action.
02:11It's got enough munitions, which we are not sure about the U.S. allies in the region.
02:17So it will continue to develop on the military front, not on the diplomatic one.
02:22And what do you think about the chances of an actual ground invasion, ground American boots on the ground in
02:28this war so far?
02:30There is a high chance.
02:32And if we look at what Donald Trump actually does, not only at what he says, which is at times
02:38quite disgraceful, especially his post in the social media,
02:42the accumulation of the forces in the region for this potential operation is telling us that the chances are high
02:52that some sort of ground operation is going to happen.
02:55What it's going to be, we don't know.
02:56Pete Hackstead also mentioned in his press conference that we are not going to reveal the plans, the actual plans
03:02of it.
03:02But whatever it's going to be, even if it's just a small island, because, well, that will be very difficult
03:10to provide for the staying capacity, even in that small island.
03:13Or it's somewhere around Esfahan, where it's suspected Iran keeps the stockpile of enriched uranium, is going to be a
03:22tragic blunder if such a ground operation is to take place.
03:26Really grateful for your input here.
03:29Julia Rocnafard from Taylors University of Malaysia, thank you very much indeed.
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